Buemi thrilled with Q3 return

The Swiss driver is confident that he can maintain that form in tomorrow's race as well.

"I am very happy to be back in Q3, as we had not been there since 2009," said Buemi. "In the end, I had no more new tyres, but all the same, I have to say thanks to the team for doing such a good job and it shows we are on the right road.

"Let's hope we can continue to do well in the race tomorrow and from what we have seen of our pace in free practice, I think that should be possible.

"I could not have hoped for a better start to the season, being among the 10 fastest cars on the grid. My quick lap was good and I don't think I could have done any better."

Jaime Alguersuari was 12th in the second Toro Rosso.

"I am quite happy, although I have to congratulate my team-mate on doing a better job than me," he said. "This is a good result for the team and promising for tomorrow, when my main target will be to score points."

Technical director Giorgio Ascanelli said the performance was exactly as he expected - and that the pressure was now on Toro Rosso to stay in this position.

"Before the session, I expected to get this result," he said. "We are just a sniff ahead of Force India, with whom I expect we will be fighting all year. However, I am not going to cry about Adrian Sutil's misfortunes.

"When analysing the result, we have to consider that Williams had a difficult session, while Sauber is solidly ahead of us.

"Seb and the team did a very good job, managing the tyres, going out at the right time and generally running the session very well.

"People have been singing the praises of our car and this is a result of some bold choices we made on the design front. However, we are currently the eighth team and we will have to continue to work hard to try and stay ahead of the others."